Australian bookstore adds wine to its catalogue

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Australian bibliophiles have been offered a chance to combine their love of literature with their fondness for a quiet drink, with a boutique bookchain in Sydney adding wine to its shelves.

Berkelouw Books, in Sydney's trendy inner-city suburb Leichhardt, has created a combined wine bar/reading room featuring a range of Australian wines and cheeses.

Customers can curl up on a couch with a tasting plate, surrounded by shelves of antique or new books. Polished wooden floors, soaring windows and wine barrel tables complete the space.

Australia's book industry has recently been looking to drown its sorrows amid increasing competitive pressure from online bookstores like Amazon, often based overseas.

Berkelouw owners Colin Cappelleri and Gary Mullins said they had chosen a selection of season wines that were a perfect match with friends or fiction, with the store to also offer live jazz.

"Now that people are getting to know about us, we've had great success with our boutique wines and lots of positive feedback," Cappelleri told Reuters.